Ascension Magazine

Lord… We Need Van Broussard… Bad Tonight!

On March 29, 1937, Mr. and Mrs. Van Broussard welcomed their first child, Van Jr. The birth of a child is a momentous occasion for any young couple, and for the Broussard¹s this was truly cause for celebration. It is doubtful though, that this cattleman and his wife could have known that his namesake was destined to become one of Louisiana¹s most beloved and famous music legends.

For the next 69 years, and counting, Van Broussard Jr. and his siblings have shown us an inexhaustible pool of skill, talent, and creativity that would amaze even the most confident of parents. The Broussards have always been hard working, giving people, and their musical pedigree would rival the VonTrapps. The Broussards have given us Louisiana’s “Sound of Music”. One of Van’s recordings, “Mathilda”, is even nicknamed “Louisiana¹s National Anthem”. It is a distinct Cajun gold… a sound born of roots in blues, bluegrass, and bare knuckles. More

West Nile Not So Tough
By Dr. Mark Stupka, DNM, PhD

Richard W. Jacobson, MD., an emergency physician at Christus Schumpert Health System in Shreveport, in the October issue of The Forum made the above statement about the West Nile virus. Dr. Jacobson has a few other comments I want to share with you this month. Please keep in mind his statements are made from the

perspective of a clinician who deals with emergency room situations on a daily basis. He says, despite the scary name, West Nile virus is just not something the average healthy person needs to worry about.

Actually, it might surprise you to know you could have already had West Nile virus and not even know it. That’s because the symptoms of West Nile are very much like the symptoms of the flu: cold, runny nose, headache and muscle weakness. If you had gone to the emergency department, they could have done a blood test to confirm that you indeed had West Nile, but you would not have received any miracle drugs. More

Thoughts From Bully: Oriental People Have Trouble Using Some Syllables

I know it isn’t funny to make fun of people. And the politically correct people of the world probably won’t like this article, but I had to tell you a couple of stories involving the mis-pronunciation of some words that are down right funny.

I first became fascinated with the Oriental dialect while working at Benjamin Advertising. One of my artist friends was Paula and she was Oriental. Sweet girl. I always thought we were friends but she use to call me names in Chinese like, “bach-way” and “cah-ga-hi juck-sing”. The first phrase means “White Devil” and the second phrase means, “Bamboo Head”. What do you think! Friends or Not?

During my college days I met an Oriental musical dance band. The time period was 1978, disco days. The group was a showband, “Leddy and the Up Comings”. Each night they would perform a Beach Boys set of songs. More